How your day to day actions can save energy

There are three main resources we use whose consumption is fairly regular: electricity, natural gas, and water.

By changing the way we do things, we can take an active role in caring for our planet while also saving money. That means thinking about how we can live sustainably in our day to day life. Changing our habits can make a significant impact on how efficiently energy is used in our homes.

The best part is that developing new habits helps you save energy without spending a cent!

But there are also some relatively inexpensive devices that can change our habits. For example, the sleep setting on your computer automatically helps reduce its energy use without actively doing anything before you step away from it for a short while.

Here are some tips on how you can take an active role in reducing your energy use that we haven’t covered in other lessons.

What you can do to save electricity

Turn lights off when you aren’t in the room. Or you could partially replace this habit by installing a motion sensor controlling certain lights but not all of them. If you use lights on the exterior of the home, consider using a timer or reducing the wattage of the lights.

Exploit the simple elegance of free wind and sunshine. Hang your clothes to dry on a line outside instead of using your dryer.

Use smart power bars to control electronics to avoid phantom loads caused by electronics that use electricity even when they are turned off.

Use your oven less and use your microwave or plug-in kettle. A microwave is more effective at getting the energy into food, with less warming up of the air around it, and a plug-in kettle likewise.

An extra step you can take for bonus points is filling your cup with water first before putting it into the kettle to heat up just the amount of water you are going to use.

Avoid the need for air conditioning by cooking outside in the summer.

Avoid leaving doors or windows open in the summer when the air conditioner is on.

Take up meditation and don’t do anything for a month. I’m joking. There are a lot of lifestyle suggestions we could make, but we’ve picked those we think won’t impact the way you enjoy life.

Share ideas with your friends

These are some of the ways I can suggest to change your habits and conserve resources. You may think of other things you can do.

One of the most effective ways to learn how you can change your habits is by talking about what you’ve done with other people and asking if they have any habits or strategies that they use that you could imitate. By talking about it, you’ll discover a lot of like-minded people with creative ideas and enhance your knowledge on how to live sustainably.